Annabeth Jackson
by cole-lit
Summary: They haven't been forthcoming about the details in their stay in Tartarus. But that's okay because a monster gladly relates what really happened during Percy and Annabeth's time in Tartarus. Or at least a glimpse of it. Post-HoO. Percabeth. MOA spoilers.


A woman stood at the border of Camp Half-Blood. Well, only her top half was a woman, her bottom half on the other hand was a serpentine tail of a Drakon in place of her legs. She cautiously flicked her tail at where the invisible camp borders should be and smiled when nothing pushed her back. She casually strolled, rather slithered, her way in camp and would have been undetected if it weren't for the dragon guarding the giant pine tree with the golden fleece hanging from its branches.

The moment the dragon roared and alerted her presence in camp, dozens of demigods suddenly appeared from half-finished buildings and cabins. Most of them were only carrying weapons while some actually had time to wear battle armor.

"Please don't kill me yet. It would be very depressing if I had to return to Tartarus just moments after I managed to leave that dreadfully boring place," she said as she raised her hands as a sign of surrender since she had no intention of attacking them. Yet. In return, most demigods lowered their weapons.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" a blond-haired blue-eyed boy demanded as he stood in front of the crowd. He was one of those who didn't lower his weapon, which was quite wise of him.

"I'm Scythia," she introduced herself and even tilted her head forward in greeting.

"Wasn't Scythia a region encompassing the Pontic-Caspian steppe and parts of Central Asia during ancient times?" another blond asked from behind the lines.

"Well, obviously, it was named after me," she replied light-heartedly.

"I thought it was named after its first king, Skythes?" another blond child asked, obviously a sibling to the blond who knew his ancient history.

"And my son was named after me," she answered easily and happily. She enjoyed sharing her knowledge and her past.

"I thought his mother was nameless," a long-haired brunette asked as she stood in front of the crowd as well. Beside her were two metallic dogs, one gold and the other silver.

"I think that was the doing of one of Hercules' wives. Or maybe whores. She was just too jealous that it took almost no effort to seduce the hero," she said arrogantly.

"Hercules is an ass," another brunette muttered. She stood beside the blond with a spear and carried a knife herself.

"Yes, he had a very fine ass," she said dreamily, as if reminiscing the good old days.

"You still haven't answered the question, lady. What are you doing here, especially now?" a Latino elf interrupted their conversation. He looked quite lost, with a clueless look on his face and power tools in his hands, as he stood in front of the crowd and beside the blond carrying the spear.

"Oh, nothing. I just came to visit Annabeth Jackson," she said airily as her gaze landed on the blonde that suddenly appeared beside the brunette with the metallic dogs. She smiled at Annabeth, who turned into a shade of red, from anger or embarrassment or something else altogether.

Silence echoed through the camp as the message sank in. Then, more than one person dropped their weapons and gasped at the implications of Scythia's answer.

"When did you get married, Annabeth?" the short-haired brunette asked with hurt laced in her voice.

Annabeth groaned and glared at the half-drakon, who simply smiled and waved. "What do you want, Scythia?" she asked her, instead of answering her friend's question.

"It's so dreadfully boring down there in Tartarus without you and your mate running around and causing chaos. I just wanted to see what you were up to," Scythia answered gleefully as her tail wriggled in excitement.

Several campers looked even more shocked at what she implied. It seemed that not many of them knew that the Jacksons frolicked in the monster pit. And lived to tell the tale, at least that was what they were supposed to do. It seemed that they forgot the memo to brag their achievement because that was no easy feat for any mortal, especially since they stayed there for so long.

"I'm pretty sure we aren't married," a voice broke through the shocked silence. Percy ran up to the front and stood beside Annabeth with one hand carrying an uncapped Riptide. Scythia slid back, remembering the number of times that certain sword hurt her while it was in Tartarus, along with its owner. "We're only eighteen and Annabeth wanted to finish college and mom wanted to plan the whole thing, I think," Percy added, rambling.

One of them, who just arrived with Percy, fanned her face as her right held her spatha, looking both confused and embarrassed. "Then why does she have your last name?"

"Oh, oh! It's a beautiful tale! It's almost as beautiful as the nights I spent with Hercules," she answered excitedly, her tail now twitching to show her delight. It seemed that many wished to ask for the tale but she beat them to the punch since not many monsters enjoyed hearing stories about how Percy and Annabeth survived from their grasp.

"It was when Annabeth here was hit by a Keres," she started off and many campers seemed to listen to her intently. Then she frowned at their undivided attention. Even the blond and brunette that seemed to want to stab her with their spears seem to be too curious to just kill her off now.

"They don't know?" she turned and asked the two demigods she actually knew. The brightness and life in their eyes suddenly dimmed and they suddenly stood stiffly. Annabeth, who was Athena's favorite child, opened and closed her mouth as if unable to formulate a proper answer. Percy on the other hand replied, "Our visit there wasn't really the best time of our lives." His voice seemed coarser and deeper and his grip on his sword was so tight that his knuckles were turning white.

Scythia shrugged, not understanding why they didn't share their most defining moment as soulmates, as far as she was concerned. "Anyway, so Annabeth was going to die," she continued and noticed that most of her listeners were confused. "You see, children, Keres' poison is so deadly that one small scratch can kill you. And Annabeth was deeply scratched so she was most definitely going to die.

"Actually, both of them were going to die since they were surrounded on all sides by every being living in Tartarus. And if I remember correctly, they were both out of nectar and ambrosia, having used them all up in the previous days, or was it weeks, they spent in there."

She paused as most of them gasped and looked at the pair, who had a distant look on their faces. It has been a long time since she told stories to children since her children have passed away oh-so-long ago. She missed the feeling of children looking up to her and begging for her to continue as she paused for dramatic effect, like now.

"Then Annabeth said, 'Hey, Seaweed Brain.' Her voice then was so weak and delicate, like the rest of her stance because they've been fighting non-stop for days, or weeks. Oh, I don't know. Time has no meaning there in Tartarus. It just passes by. Anyway, Percy looked at her, looking both scared and ragged, because he knew that she was going to die. Though I'm not sure how he did that while still fighting against the rest of us. Must be your ADHD at work.

"Then she said: 'I, Annabeth Chase, swear on the River Styx to love Perseus Jackson now and forevermore and to be by his side for as long as he'll let me.'"

Silence reigned throughout the camp once more. Actually, they were pretty quiet as she told them of her tale. But instead of eyes on her, all of them were focused on Annabeth, who buried her head into Percy's shoulder. Percy wrapped his arms around her as his gaze was a distant as before. But he looked so old, older than an eighteen year old should look like. Now that she thought about it, he looked quite similar to the boy that faced Tartarus with Annabeth, only cleaner and more filled in. He was practically skin and bones dressed in mud, blood, and rags during his stay in Tartarus. But then, he was fighting for his life for the most part so it was no surprise that he barely had time to care for anything else other than his most basic needs. And probably, hers as well.

"Then she collapsed," she continued and all eyes returned to her with a renewed interest.

"Percy practically tossed away his sword to catch her. One demigod down, one left. Everyone was so excited that they finally fell one of them.

"Then Percy, despite his injuries and exhaustion and gods know what else, summoned a storm that stopped us from approaching them. And then he started screaming her name.

"'Annabeth!' he said over the din of the storm, his voice so broken and hoarse. Over and over again. 'Annabeth Chase!' he shouted instead and still she didn't stir. The storm was fading and we were finally able to approach them.

"And then he said in a weak voice that I wouldn't have heard in the first place if the storm didn't weaken, 'Annabeth Jackson, you just swore you'd never leave me.' "

She paused again for dramatic effect. All of the children were obviously entranced with the story, except for the two main characters that have edged away. She didn't understand why they wouldn't enjoy sharing this moment? It was probably _the most_ defining moment of their relationship. She gladly shared hers with Hercules to anyone who cared enough to ask and sometimes even to those who don't.

"Then she stirred and answered back, 'Percy.' Then he laughed. It was obvious that his laughter was of delight and relief. Then he said, 'I, Perseus Jackson, swear on the River Styx to love Annabeth Jackson now and forevermore and to be by her side for as long as she'll let me.' "

Then she stopped and clapped her hands once. "The end," she said cheerfully, as opposed to the mood of the camp. Most, if not all, of the campers suddenly snapped out of their stupor and started shouting at the suspense she left them. "Well, what else can I say? After he said that, I wake up moment later with the two of them gone, though the scent of their blood was all over the place. Then maybe a few hours or days later, I would find them up and moving, causing chaos in Tartarus. Though I am curious as to what happened?" she said as she turned her gaze towards the two demigods.

Percy managed to mutter a few words that were barely understandable. "Blood. Poison. Fluid. First-aid. Rhea." Then with Annabeth in his arms, they turned and left, probably for some _private time_.

"So what are you going to do now?" a stocky Chinese asked her and she tilted her head as she thought.

"I'm not sure. I went here to find out why the rest of the monsters found killing demigods appealing," she said then she found herself interrupted by two spears heading towards her. She managed to avoid both of them before raising her hands in surrender. "But you children are far more interesting company than those staying in that horrid pit. For one, you actually shared my interest in romance," she said, but was interrupted once more by some retching sounds at the back. She shrugged and continued, "So I might like to stay here, share a few stories from my glory days and all."

The Latino elf grinned as he moved towards her and said, "Well, as long as you don't start killing us off, then you're welcome to stay, right guys?"

* * *

Uh..okay. I was planning to write other things but this kept bugging me. As in seriously. And so after like three rewrites and one sort-of edit (because I wanna sleep already!), it's done. I wanted to put this in one of my pre-existing PJO fics, but I think it's better as a one-shot. I've also got a more angsty piece in mind for Family Dynamics, so head on over there if you're curious. But I probably won't be posting it until a long while. Uh, I hope you enjoyed!

P.S. Scythia is really an unnamed monster. When Hercules visited her realm leading the cattle of Geryon (for one of his labors), she stole some of the herd and insisted the hero mate with her before she would return them.

P.P.S. Just so you know how Annabeth survived the Keres attack, Percy managed to knock out most monsters with the adrenaline rush after saying something sappy like that. Then, manipulating the water in the poison and in the blood (because the poison travelled through the bloodstream) so that it wouldn't travel through the body as fast as it should. He was about to bleed her out but Rhea suddenly appeared (deus ex machina and stuff) and healed her because the gods haven't completely fulfilled Percy's reward for winning against Kronos before closing down. And/or he let Annabeth bleed out the blood with poison then he gave up some of his blood for her. I haven't decided yet, actually.


End file.
